The proposed movie version of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart may be heading to the small screen.

Back in January, news broke of a film adaptation of Kramer’s Tony Award-winning autobiographical play about the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, helmed by TV titan Ryan Murphy and featuring an all-star cast of Julia Roberts, Alec Baldwin, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons.

The film was to be produced through Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, but according to Broadway Wold, the project has moved over to HBO with a rumored $15 million budget, though it is unclear whether the HBO production will retain the same cast.

Babs Streisand had optioned to direct The Normal Heart back in 1986, but built koi ponds in her New England-style home in Southern California instead, leading Kramer to rub the play’s renewed success in her face.:

“Ryan has wonderful ideas that jell and enhance my work. You said you couldn’t get financing. He has his financing. He said if he couldn’t get it, he’d finance it himself. (You chose to remodel and redecorate your houses.) This is a man whose driving passion to make this movie is extraordinary.”

Murphy optioned the play in 2011 after it closed on Broadway where it snatched up three Tonys (including Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actress for Ellen Barkin, who can currently be seen yelling in everyone’s face on The New Normal) so Murphy and all involved may be best advised to start making room on their mantles now.

After all, HBO’s production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America ran away with ever y award under the sun.

That would be awesome! I saw the play last year in Toronto and it was amazing. It’s a part of our gay history that many younger gays are now unaware of. The rights and freedoms that we have currently are the result of the work that these brave souls did.

Nov 15, 2012 at 11:41 am · @Reply ·

zaneymcbanes

I think that would actually be much better. Plays always translate better to TV than they do to movie theaters. There’s less hoops to jump through so the source material doesn’t get watered down as much, and, personally, I think television is better at providing the intimate feeling you can get from a play.

Nov 15, 2012 at 12:42 pm · @Reply ·

Mr. Enemabag Jones

It’ll end up being just another het vanity project starring straight people who want to feel good about themselves, and win awards–“And the Band Played On” anyone?

HBO does a terrific job bringing these stories to the screen and to millions of viewers without compromising the integrity of the stories.

Anything that gets this important landmark of a show seen by millions is a good thing. This story is important, and the way it’s told in The Normal Heart is perhaps the most incendiary and evocative work of the last few decades.

Literally counting the days.

Nov 15, 2012 at 3:47 pm · @Reply ·

Eric Auerbach

Normally I’d say that Ryan Murphy is way too schlocky to produce sensitive and touching material, but the truth is that Larry Kramer was never the subtlest writer. Maybe this will be a good mach.